Despite plenty of forward warning, Operation: Payback has successfully knocked Hustler.com offline - although it seems there's some intermittent uptime. The group behind the attack, many of which are made of Anonymous, decided on the target because of the 5,000+ lawsuits recently launched against suspected file-sharers. News of the attack was revealed yesterday, giving Hustler plenty of time to prepare. However, it seems the adult entertainment company was taken by surprise.

In an article featured in XBIZ.com, LFP President Michael Klein said his company was not expecting the attack. LFP only learned of this attack when notified by XBIZ.

"We are surprised by this announcement by this group...Obviously our legal actions against the individuals who have stolen our content are valid."

As of this writing, Hustler.com is in flux, but is fighting to stay online. It didn't take long, perhaps less than three minutes, for the attack to take the site offline.